United States
Attorney John McKay, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
Special-Agent-In-Charge John Bott, National Park Service (NPS) Acting Chief
Ranger Tim Simonds, and United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) Acting
Inspector-in-Charge William P. Atkins announce today the Indictment of four
Washington State residents for manufacturing and conspiring to manufacture
psilocyn, a controlled substance, commonly found in hallucinogenic mushrooms.
The Indictment in this case, returned by a Federal Grand Jury on February 22,
2003, charges ROBERT WILLIAM McPHERSON, age 56, the owner of Psylocybe
Fanaticus, and his wife, MARGARET M. McPHERSON, age 48, both of Amanda Park,
Washington; STEPHEN COGGIN, age 51, of Neilton, Washington; and JUDITH CHRISTINE
KREIGH, age 47, of Amanda Park, Washington, with conspiracy to distribute
psilocyn and the manufacture of psilocyn in Western Washington. The charges
carry a maximum sentence of twenty years' imprisonment.

According to court records,
the investigation of ROBERT McPHERSON and Psylocybe Fanaticus was prompted in
September 1999, when law enforcement agents around the country received calls
from concerned parents whose children had received packages from Psylocybe
Fanaticus. Those packages contained syringes and instructions on how to grow
hallucinogenic mushrooms. Psylocybe Fanaticus is a mail order business that
sells hallucinogenic mushroom spores. ROBERT McPHERSON operated a website on the
internet, http://www.fanaticus.com/, and
advertised in the High Times magazine to promote the sale of hallucinogenic
mushroom spores. The website provides instructions on cultivating mushroom
spores to manufacture a hallucinogenic strain of mushrooms. Psylocybe
Fanaticus's web site and advertisement in High Times magazine state that the
mushrooms grown with the spores will be magic mushrooms. The website also
provides a first person description of the mental disorientation and physical
sickness that results from eating hallucinogenic mushrooms.

Through the course of this
investigation, agents learned that STEPHEN COGGIN and JUDITH KREIGH were
employees of ROBERT McPHERSON and Psylocybe Fanaticus. STEPHEN COGGIN was
responsible for picking up mail at a Post Office box in Seattle, Washington,
addressed to Psylocybe Fanaticus. COGGIN lived at a residence in Neilton,
Washington, owned by the McPHERSONs. Incoming mail addressed to Psylocybe
Fanaticus was also received at a Post Office box in Amanda Park, Washington,
where it was picked up by ROBERT McPHERSON and JUDITH KREIGH. ROBERT McPHERSON,
JUDITH KREIGH, and STEPHEN COGGIN were also sending out packages on a daily
basis at the Post Office in Amanda Park. Law enforcement agents believe that the
packages contained hallucinogenic mushroom spores and material to grow them and
were sent in response to orders placed with Psylocybe Fanaticus.

On July 17, 2000, the DEA,
utilizing an undercover return address, placed an order for mushroom spores
through Psylocybe Fanaticus's Post Office box address at Amanda Park. On July
31, 2000, the DEA received a package containing five plastic syringes each
containing clear liquid with small particles (spores) floating within the
liquid. The package also contained two books on cultivating "magic mushrooms"
with the contents in the syringes. In February 2001, the DEA sent another order
to Psylocybe Fanaticus and received another two syringes with spores in a liquid
substance. The spores were grown according to the books which accompanied the
syringes and instructions on the http://www.fanaticus.com/ website and the
agent was able to produce several crops of mushrooms. The DEA laboratory
confirmed the presence of psilocyn, a Schedule I controlled substance, in the
mushrooms.

ROBERT McPHERSON was
arrested on February 18, 2003, at his Amanda Park residence when agents executed
a search warrant. Inside the residence was a mushroom growing operation with
live mushrooms. After being advised of his constitutional rights, ROBERT
McPHERSON admitted that he was growing the mushrooms for his mushroom spore
business. On February 21, 2003, United States Magistrate Judge J. Kelley Arnold
ordered ROBERT McPHERSON permanently detained pending trial. The arraignment of
ROBERT McPHERSON on the Indictment is scheduled for March 5, 2003, before
Magistrate Judge Arnold.

STEPHEN COGGIN's Neilton,
Washington, residence was also searched on February 18, 2003. COGGIN was not
present during the search, but was subsequently arrested. Agents found supplies
of syringes and other mushroom growing equipment sent out by Psylocybe Fanaticus
to customers to grow hallucinogenic mushrooms. COGGIN was arraigned on the
Indictment on February 21, 2003. He was released on bond pending trial. A trial
date for COGGIN is scheduled for April 21, 2003, before United States District
Court Judge Robert J. Bryan.

The arraignment of JUDITH
KREIGH and MARGARET McPHERSON is scheduled for Thursday, February 27, 2003, at
12:00 p.m., before United States Magistrate Judge Arnold at the Union Station
Courthouse in Tacoma, Washington.

The Indictment is based on a
joint investigation by agents and investigators from the Drug Enforcement
Administration in Seattle, National Park Service, and the United States Postal
Inspection Service.

Members of the public are
reminded that an Indictment contains only a charge. The defendants are presumed
innocent of the charge and it will be the government's burden to prove a
defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

For further information,
please contact John Hartingh, Executive Assistant United States Attorney, at
(206) 553-4110; Doug Whalley, Assistant United States Attorney, at (206)
553-4882; or Ye-Ting Woo, Assistant United States Attorney, at (206)
553-2268.